15 Actors Who Are Terrible With Their Fans

No one wants to hear that their idol is actually incredibly rude or inconsiderate in real life. In a perfect world, everyone’s favorite action hero or romcom lead would always be eager to meet fans and happy that so many people have chosen to support them. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, and some celebrities are just plain rude to the people who buy their music and dish out their cash for movie tickets.

Everyone has those days when they just want to snap at anyone who even comes close to them, and celebrities are no different. Even the kindest stars around have probably had a moment when they were harsh with a fan who invaded their personal space at the end of the long day. We’re only human, right?

But then there are the actors and actresses who have racked up horror stories about how they treated anyone who dared to look at them sideways. Those are the people we’ll be covering in our list. If you see these celebrities out in public, you might want to think twice before bouncing up for an autograph. Here are 15 actors and actresses who are terrible with their fans.

15. Jared Leto

Jared Leto made headlines last year for allegedly being horrific to work with on the Suicide Squad set. (Method acting means something a lot different when you’re playing a character like the Joker.) Apparently, his co-stars aren’t the only ones who had weird incidents with him. Over the years, Leto has managed to alienate fans of his as well with his bad behavior.

Before he started the Joker portrayal that birthed a thousand memes, Leto had racked up a fanbase as one of the founding members of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. There are multiple videos of him hitting fans with his microphone on separate occasions. Lashing out at people who paid to see you in concert is probably not the greatest move. If that weren’t enough, he allegedly flipped off and humiliated a fan for not knowing the words to one of his songs (she was Brazilian and didn’t speak English), and is known for being hostile to people who try to talk to him.

14. Tobey Maguire

If you were hoping to snag an autograph from the original Spider-Man actor, you might want to reconsider. Autograph Collector magazine has ranked him as the absolute worst celebrity to try to approach, saying that he’s “so wrapped up in his own egotistical web that he has earned the distinction of being the worst signer of the year.”

Ouch…but we see what you did with that web pun.

Fans who decide to test their luck with Maguire should plan on defending themselves — and maybe investing in durable camera equipment. In one video, Maguire is shown smacking the camera out of the hands of a fan trying to get a selfie. It’s one thing to want your personal space, it’s another to break someone’s camera and then walk away like it never happened. Maybe Marvel fans will have better luck with the latest actor to put on the Spidey suit.

13. Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball is known for bringing to life the beloved titular character of I Love Lucy. Her comedy lives on to this day, which is nothing short of impressive given how much programming is available to distract us. But fans might be disappointed to learn that she wasn’t always as lovable in situations when the camera wasn’t rolling.

Ball apparently gained a reputation amongst flight attendants for being arrogant and refusing to speak to the ‘help.’ When they approached to take her drink order or ask if there was anything she needed, her assistant spoke for her instead. She didn’t have the greatest track record with her fans, either.

There are multiple accounts online of Ball being harsh or rude to fans after I Love Lucy stopped filming new episodes, a change from when she was entertained by the tour buses full of staring fans that rolled through her celebrity neighborhood.

12. Russell Crowe

There’s no denying that Russell Crowe is insanely talented. The actor seems to bring to life every type of person with ease, from schizophrenic Nobel Laureates to gladiators to singing police inspectors. For every review praising his skills, however, it seems like there is a news story about how poorly he treats other people.

Crowe’s temper is so well-known that there are multiple timelines just dedicated to his violent outbursts. Over the years, he’s thrown a telephone at a hotel employee’s face, fought his own bodyguard, and yelled at fans and coworkers alike. He’s even managed to be rude to entire crowds of people at once.

During a 2015 appearance on The Late Late Show, Crowe told off the crowd for not clapping in time during a musical performance and directed them to ‘shut up’ if they couldn’t stay on beat. (This was after complaining that he had to use “the midget’s” microphone after he couldn’t adjust his own microphone stand.) Yikes.

11. Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera is best known for being a singer in the late ’90s and early 2000s, storming onto the scene with endless runs and a voice that no one could replicate. However, she’s also tried her hand at acting in films like Burlesque (in which, of course, she also sings). She’s gained a ton of fans over the course of her career, but apparently, she’s also made her fair share of enemies.

There’s a whole list of celebrities who have called Aguilera rude or stuck up (Valerie Bertinelli, Adam Levine, and Kelly Osbourne, to name a few), and fans who have tried to interact with her in person say the same. She even ignored Daniel Franzese, the actor who played Damien in Mean Girls. The sequence where he sings Aguilera’s “Beautiful” at the talent show is one of the most iconic scenes of the movie, but Aguilera apparently didn’t care — she ignored his attempts to speak to her and walked away. That’s earning an entry in the Burn Book for sure.

10. Chevy Chase

The actor known for the National Lampoon movies and Community has gained such a reputation of being rude that there is no shortage of articles detailing the many ways in which he’s proven himself to be a complete jerk. You can even get it in print — the book Live From New York, an oral history of Saturday Night Live, has endless stories of Chase being rude to co-stars, writers, and interns alike. Will Ferrell called him the worst SNL guest host, mostly because of his lecherous remarks towards one of the female writers. Bill Murray famously couldn’t stand him.

If he couldn’t bother to be polite to the people he worked with constantly, fans were even lower on his priority list. Chase allegedly called a restaurant server a gay slur when his regular table wasn’t available. Actor Rob Huebel, who was a huge Chevy fan, approached his idol backstage at a theater once, only to be literally slapped in the face. Chase said it was meant as a joke, but we wonder how many onlookers were laughing.

9. Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz rose to fame first as a model, then as an actress in films like The Mask and Charlie’s Angels. Although at times the public hasn’t taken her seriously, she racked up Golden Globe nominations for her work on four different films. She’s been so successful that Diaz was named the highest paid actress over 40 in Hollywood in 2013. After twenty years of Hollywood success, it would be easy to forget what it’s like to be an unknown fan.

Similar to Tobey Maguire, she was ranked as one of the worst celebrities to approach for an autograph by Autograph Collector magazine. When the magazine editor was asked why she was ranked so far down, he said that instead of just turning down an autograph request — which would be reasonable — she lectured fans about why asking for autographs was stupid. We know one of her more recent roles was Bad Teacher, but even real life teachers take a break from lecturing sometimes.

8. Spike Lee

Spike Lee is known for being one of those special people in film who writes, directs, and sometimes even stars in their own productions. He’s best known for films like Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, both of which had important social messages that still resonate today. He has struggled to replicate the success he had in the eighties and nineties, but that hasn’t stopped Lee from being a fan favorite filmmaker.

It’s fair to say that he’s a favorite because of his work and not because of his attitude, however. Lee has a famously poor demeanor that comes out both in his interactions with fellow celebrities and with fans. When Lee visited a university to give a public lecture, he cut the event short by forty minutes and was curt to excited fans who came to ask questions during the designated Q and A period. Even entertainment journalists who enjoy his work aren’t spared from his cold attitude and eye rolls.

7. Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff is currently on the TV show Younger, but if you grew up in the nineties, you probably knew her as Lizzie McGuire. She was also in teen movies A Cinderella Story and Cheaper by the Dozen, along with embarking on a singing career. (Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato should all thank her for being a Disney star who branched out into recording.)

You might not want to get on her bad side though — she’s dissed Chris Brown, Karrueche Tran, and Faye Dunaway in public forums before. Last year, she came under fire for the couples costume she and her boyfriend donned for Halloween. The two were dressed as a Native American and a sexy pilgrim, which struck a nerve considering that the Dakota Access Pipeline protests were still big news at the time. Not the best message to send to Native fans, especially when the ‘culture is not a costume’ conversation has been going on for years.

6. Robert Pattinson

It’s well-known that Robert Pattinson wasn’t overly enamored (to say the least) with the brooding vampire character that made him famous. He famously said that he thought Stephenie Meyer was ‘mad,’ and that he played Edward Cullen as a manic-depressive who hates himself. That gained him some respect in anti-Twilight circles who found him hilarious, but it came at the expense of the fans who made the franchise so successful.

Since he hated the character he played so much, he wasn’t exactly…enthusiastic about fans who loved Edward Cullen with a passion. It would be one thing for him to ignore fans who were invading his personal space, since some Twilight superfans were known for not giving any of the actors space to breathe. But Pattinson went out of his way to diss the franchise and its fans in multiple interviews, even questioning “what they do all day.” Pour money into the movie series that made you a millionaire, maybe?

5. Rachael Ray

The Food Network show host became famous partially due to her perky attitude and catchphrases (“EVOO” for extra virgin olive oil, “Yum-O!”). She’s known for being funny, high-energy, and relatable. She’s repeatedly said that she’s not professionally trained in anything, she’s not a chef, and that she likes meals that are quick and easy for everyone to make. That doesn’t resonate with everyone, though — it seems like viewers either love her, or love to hate her.

She may have built a brand off of being the nice cook-next-door, but it’s starting to wear off. Every time she has someone on her talk show, fans complain about her talking over guests and not allowing them to speak. Her show $40 A Day, where she travels to different cities and proves that you can eat there on — you guessed it — $40 a day, apparently doesn’t account for giving waitstaff a proper tip. Ray routinely stiffs the people who wait on her for her show, and has been slammed by fellow TV personality Anthony Bourdain for being inconsiderate.

4. Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock has been working as an actress since the eighties, but unlike many actors from that time, she’s remained firmly in the public eye. She’s been in a number of successful films, but most people know her best for comedies like Miss Congeniality and The Heat, or for playing the mom in The Blind Side.

You may not want to approach her for an autograph, though — sources reported back in 2012 that she yelled at a wheelchair bound fan who dared to ask her to sign something for him. The rumor has persisted for the past five years, and other fans have come forward to report cold behavior when they’ve met her in real life. Even if she was with other celebrities, she wasn’t keen on photos, and would ignore fans who requested one. Good luck on getting dirt out of people who work for her, though — they’re under strict orders to say nothing but good things.

3. Christian Bale

The last thing we want to do is knock celebrities for wanting to put boundaries between their personal and professional lives. Still, there’s a difference between being firm about your privacy and being so rude you make girls run away from you in tears. Guess which category Christian Bale allegedly falls under?

Bale’s former publicist and assistant Harrison Cheung wrote a tell-all book about his experiences with the actor a few years ago, and it’s not exactly the most glowing portrait of the Batman actor. Cheung claims that Bale suggested a fan should be “eliminated” after they sent a letter to his home, and he sent young girls away from his table in tears after they approached him in public.

We understand wanting your space, but suggesting — even jokingly — that a fan who sent you a letter to your home address should be killed is seriously messed up.

2. Gwyneth Paltrow

Oh, Gwyneth. The actress is often made fun of in the media, whether it’s for her lifestyle brand Goop, naming her child Apple, or for coining the phrase “conscious uncoupling.” (Seriously, just say you’re getting divorced.) Paltrow is undoubtedly a talented actress — she does have an Academy Award under her belt, after all — but that tends to get overshadowed by her other ventures. Another topic that overshadows her talent is her treatment of fans and everyday people.

Paltrow is more known for being pretentious than for being an actress lately, despite a recurring role as Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her neighbors were fine with ex-husband Chris Martin, but were irritated with Paltrow for being rude and snobbish. There are entire articles dedicated to her most ridiculous and out-of-touch recommendations, and she’s made consistently disparaging comments about people who don’t make millions a year…AKA most of her fanbase.

1. Katherine Heigl

Ever wonder why it feels like it’s been years since Katherine Heigl appeared on your TV screen? For awhile, Heigl seemed to have a pretty good momentum going for her in her career. She appeared as the lead in a couple of successful movies and had a recurring role on the hyper-popular drama Grey’s Anatomy. Theoretically, she should have been able to continue riding that wave of success into other acting jobs, but her bad attitude led to her losing both fans and film roles.

After she won an Emmy for her work on Grey’s Anatomy in 2007, Heigl flat out told the committee not to consider her in 2008 because the material she was given wasn’t good enough. Fans (rightfully) took this as a diss against the TV show they loved so much. She also began racking up rumors that she was hard to work with — and Shonda Rhimes herself fanned the flames by saying that part of her “no assholes” policy is that there are “no Heigls…I don’t put up with bullsh*t or nasty people.”

Apparently, Heigl was so difficult to work with that it hurt her chances of landing new jobs, and her starpower has undeniably waned in recent years. A little kindness goes a long way…

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Did we miss a particularly rude celebrity? Let us know in the comments!